Safety ski binding

ABSTRACT

A safety ski binding comprising an electronic evaluating circuit which is connected to force-receiving means giving off electrical signals, an electrical current supply, for example a battery, and an electromechanical release member, which drives a control element which controls a locking mechanism engaging a movably supported sole-down-holding means, with the electromechanical release member being arranged at least with a part of the control element in a tightly closed housing of a control block, with the control element being designed as a shaft snugly guided through the wall of the housing. In order to assure in such a binding a high degree of insensitivity of the release characteristic with respect to accelerating forces acting onto the release mechanism, it is provided that the electromechanical release member is formed by an electric motor (105&#39;) which controls preferably through a gearing a locking system blocking or releasing the shaft (7) serving as the control element.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a safety ski binding comprising an electronicevaluating circuit which is connected to a force-receiving means givingoff electrical signals, an electrical current supply, for example abattery, and an electromechanical release member driving a controlelement, which latter controls a locking mechanism engaging a movablysupported sole-down-holding means, and the electromechanical releasemember is arranged at least with one part of the control element in atightly closed housing of a control block, and with the control elementbeing designed as a shaft snugly guided through the wall of the housing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Such a safety ski binding became known from AT-PS 386 961 (correspondingto U.S. Pat. No. 4,880,252) and has been successful because the dangerof an icing up of the sensitive release member is avoided by the tightshielding of the electromechanical release member. The known solutionprovides an electromagnet with a flap anchor as the electromechanicalrelease member on which a locking system is supported, which, when theanchor has dropped off, holds the control element in its rest positionso that also the locking mechanism of the jaw can be held in its lockedposition.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The goal of the invention is to provide an improved safety ski bindingof the abovementioned type such that it is distinguished by a highdegree of insensitivity of its release characteristic with respect tothe accelerating forces occurring during skiing and acting on therelease mechanism, or rather that these forces do not influence therelease behavior of the ski binding.

This is achieved according to the invention by the electromechanicalrelease member being an electric motor which controls--preferablythrough a gearing--a locking system blocking and releasing the shaftserving as the control element.

These measures result in the advantage that accelerating forces can havepractically no influence on the release of the jaw since the motor, assoon as it is supplied with voltage through the evaluating circuit,starts to rotate and initiates the release. A reaction by theaccelerating forces which act onto the individual parts of the lockingsystem and the motor stays within practically negligible limits, inparticular when the motor controls the locking system through a gearing.This results in a release characteristic of the safety ski binding whichis practically independent from the accelerating forces acting onto therelease mechanism.

AT-PS 319 110 already discloses a safety ski binding in which therelease member is an electric motor, however, the motor in this knownsolution acts through a cable line directly onto the locking member. Themotor and the cable line are thereby arranged practically unprotected inthe housing of the jaw. Furthermore, the motor must produce the entirerelease force and must therefore be of a suitable size and, in addition,the danger of icing up, in particular an icing up of the cable line,must also be taken into consideration so that in the known case acorresponding demand for current for the motor exists.

In the solution of the invention, the motor is arranged in a tighthousing of a control block and acts onto the locking system which inturn blocks or releases the locking mechanism and can be designed, forexample, according to AT-PS 388 110 or AT-PS 387 909, so that the motorneed only produce small control forces and can therefore be very smalland use only little electrical energy. Thus a small battery issufficient.

A further characteristic of the invention provides that the lockingsystem is a gear mating with a pinion driven by the electric motor andbeing connected fixed against rotation to a crank, to which a pull rodis hinged. The pull rod is hingedly connected to a pivotally held leverwhich, in the locked position, supports the shaft serving as the controlelement against the force applied by the locking mechanism of the jaw.

A structurally very simple solution requiring only very few individualparts results in this manner. Furthermore, very simply formed and simplymanufacturable individual parts result. Moreover the advantage of adirect cooperation of the individual parts with one another exists. Alsothe great temperature variations, which must be considered duringskiing, have practically hardly any influence on the cooperation of theindividual parts, in contrast to a cable line.

It can thereby furthermore be provided that in the locking position ofthe locking system the crank and the pull rod, which together form thetoggle-lever system, are in an over-dead-center position and aresupported, preferably in their connecting area, on a stop.

This measure achieves a particularly high degree of insensitivity withrespect to the accelerating forces since forces acting in the lockedstate of the locking system through the pull rod can merely beintroduced into the stop and can have no effect on the gear and themotor.

Furthermore it can be provided that the gear is initially tensioned bymeans of a spring, preferably a coil spring, against its positioncorresponding with the locked position.

With this it is assured in a simple manner that the locking system isinitially tensioned against its locked position and therefore assumesthis position during the normal operation of the binding.

Furthermore it can be provided that the lever controls a switch designedas a changer which selectively connects the electric motor to thevoltage supply, or rather the evaluating circuit or separates sametherefrom and short-circuits same, the latter occurring as soon as thelever is in a position releasing the control element.

By short-circuiting the motor, it is achieved that same can be quicklystopped and that the lever or other parts of the locking system will notstrike the housing. The short-circuited motor is then turned back intoits initial position by the spring engaging the gear thereby alsopermitting the entire locking system to again assume its lockingposition. Furthermore, a control of the motor in the open position ofthe jaw, which can be triggered by force actions onto the binding, issafely avoided, thus avoiding an unnecessary load on the battery of thebinding.

Furthermore it can be provided that the gear can be operated by means ofa manually operable release rod which extends through the wall of thehousing of the control block, if necessary directly through a rope fixedto the gear and on the housing, in the sense of a release of the lockingsystem.

These measures result in a release mechanism which is very simple instructure and which permits an arbitrary manual release of the jaw.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will now be discussed in greater detail in connection withthe drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates the design of a ski binding.

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a heel jaw in the operating position.

FIG. 3 illustrates the heel jaw according to FIG. 2 in the releasedstate.

FIGS. 4a and 4b illustrate the released heel jaw according to FIG. 3during various phases of turning out and lifting off of the heel area ofthe ski boot.

FIG. 5 schematically illustrates a heel jaw after the release of the skiboot.

FIGS. 6a and 6b illustrate a control block of the invention with an openhousing in the operating position and in the released position.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view along the lines A-B of FIG. 6a.

FIG. 8 illustrates in an enlarged scale a detail of the control block ofthe invention according to FIGS. 6a and 6b, and

FIG. 9 schematically illustrates the control circuit for the motor.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The binding illustrated in FIG. 1 is constructed as a plate binding,with the binding plate 1 being rotatable around a spherically designedpin 40 arranged in the area of the point of intersection between theaxis of the tibia of the skier and the plane of the ski and makespossible a rotation of the binding plate 1 in the plane of the ski. Thebinding plate 1 has in its front area an axle 41 extending through aslot 42 of a ski-fixed arranged mounting 45, which slot 42 extends in alongitudinal direction of the ski. The mounting 45 projects with an allaround large play into a recess 1' provided on the underside of thebinding plate 1, thus making possible a limited rotation of the bindingplate about the pin 40 and a upward pivoting of the binding plate 1about the axle 41.

Furthermore a strong, not releasable toe jaw 43 is held adjustably andlockably in longitudinal direction of the binding plate 1 in the frontarea of said binding plate.

A releasable heel jaw 17' arranged at the rear area of the binding plate1 is connected to the binding plate 1, with its sole-down-holding means17 being upwardly pivotal about an axle 9. The binding plate 1 isfurthermore fixedly connected at its rear area to a control block 44which is supported by force-receiving means 4 and a measuring element 3.The measuring element 3 engages through an essentially sphericallyconstructed end 3' a ski-fixed abutment 2.

The binding plate 1 is in this manner essentially fixed in its position,however, a movement of the binding plate 1 in the degree of themeasuring paths of the force-receiving means 4 is possible, which paths,based on the fixed fulcrum points of the binding plate 1 about the pin40 and the axis 41, make it possible to detect the moments ±Mz and ±Myacting onto the binding plate 1.

The heel jaw 17' has a common opening spring 23 for itssole-down-holding means 17, which opening spring 23 is supported on thebinding plate 1 and on the sole-down-holding means 17 and initiallytensions same in direction of its upwardly pivoted end positionillustrated in FIG. 5.

The essentially cap-shaped sole-down-holding means 17 has a noseprojecting toward its inside, on which nose is rotatably held a lockingroller 16 over which grips in the locked position of the binding an arm18 having a locking surface 18a thereon. The arm 18 is pivotallysupported on a rotation axle 28, which in turn is fixed in an upstandingfork-shaped extension 1a of the binding plate 1. A coupling bar 20 ishinged through supports 46 for a tensioning spring 19 to the arm 18 andto an outer support lever 21 for connecting the arm 18 to the lever 21.The lever 21 is pivotally supported about a further rotation axle 29rigidly connected to the fork-shaped extension 1a of the bindingplate 1. The coupling bar 20 is supported for movement in itslongitudinal direction and with a greater play in the supports 46 of thetensioning spring 19.

The tensioning spring 19 acts between the parts connected with oneanother through the coupling bar 20 urging the two parts apart. The arm18 is in this manner pressed against the locking roller 16 with theouter support lever 21 being supported thus hindering thesole-down-holding means 17 from pivoting upwardly.

A manually operable release head 15 is pivotally supported about an axle30 in the heel jaw 17', with this release head 15 being initiallytensioned against its inactive position by means of a spring 31. Whenthe release head 15 is depressed, it pivots clockwise or rather againstthe force of the spring 31 and presses into engagement with a releasepin 14 held in a through guide of the housing 6 of the control block 44enclosing a release mechanism and is initially tensioned against itsinactive position illustrated in FIGS. 2 to 5 by means of a spring 119.This release pin 14 is sealed off against the housing 6, for example, bymeans of an O-ring, however, it is also possible to seal off the releasepin 14 by means of a membrane stretched over the free end of the releasepin 14 or is designed as part of the housing and on which the releasehead 15 can rest.

The measuring element 3 is supported with its spherical end 3' on theski-fixed abutment 2. This measuring element 3 has those force-receivingmeans 4 which detect the moments ±My and ±Mz acting on the binding plate1 around its axes of rotation and convert same into electrical signals.These force-receiving means 4, which can optionally be designed, forexample, as piezoelectrical converters or as wire strain gauges, areconnected to the housing 6 of the control block 44. A battery, anevaluating circuit, and an electromechanical release and parts of amechanical locking system of the binding are housed in a conventionalmanner in this control block 44.

The inner design of the control block 44 itself, which is the subjectmatter of the invention, will be discussed later.

The release mechanism in the control block 44 is rotationally fixedlyconnected to an outer locking arm 22 through a shaft 7 snugly guidedthrough its housing, which locking arm 22, for reasons of a design withlittle friction, is constructed as a roller lever. This outer lockingarm 22 supports--viewed in the state of the binding in which it is readyfor operation--the outer support lever 21 pivotally held on the rotationaxle 29 rigidly connected to the binding plate 1. The outer supportlever 21 serves as an abutment for the tensioning spring 19 which, ashas already been discussed, presses the arm 18 carrying the lockingsurface 18a against the locking roller 16 of the heel jaw 17.

As can be seen from FIG. 2, the outer support lever 21 is supported onthe outer locking arm 22 such that the outer support lever 21 defines anangle with the outer locking arm 22, which angle slightly exceeds 90°,in order to apply a torque onto the outer locking arm 22, which torqueinitially tensions the locking arm 22 toward its unlocking position. Therelease mechanism absorbs this torque and is thus initially tensionedtoward its unlocked position. The torque acting onto the outer lockingarm 22 supports thereby a possible release so that such a release ishardly hindered by an accumulation of ice and a release is possible withsmall forces applied by the release mechanism.

By swinging the sole-down-holding means 17 upwardly after a releaseoccurred arbitrarily or automatically, as can be seen in FIG. 5, ashoulder 27 on the sole-down-holding means rests on the shoulder 22' ofthe outer locking arm 22 and returns same into its operating position.This turning back of the outer locking arm 22 causes through the shaft 7also a return of the release mechanism.

This turning back requires only little force since the tensioning spring19 acts thereby only onto the parts 18, 21 connected by means of thecoupling bar 20 and forms with these a closed system. During asubsequent pressing down of the sole-down-holding means 17, its lockingroller 16 presses on the arm 18 with the locking surface 18a such thatthe tensioning spring 19 is compressed. The sole-down-holding means 17is thus again locked.

FIGS. 2 to 5 show that the deflection of the sole-down-holding means 17on the essentially ski-fixed held plate 1 occurs through a platearrangement consisting, for example, of a pair of plates 11, whicharrangement is supported on two axles which, in the operating positionof the heel jaw 17', extend transversely with respect to the ski andparallel with respect to its upper surface, namely the already mentionedaxle 9 to which the cap-shaped sole-down-holding means 17 is hinged, andthe axle 12 which is held in the binding plate 1 or its upstandingfork-shaped extension 1a. Thus, the sole-down-holding means 17 isconnected only through the plates 11 to the binding plate 1 held on theski. The sole-down-holding means 17 is thereby locked to the bindingplate 1 through the arm 18 carrying the locking surface 18a, which armis pivotally supported on the plate 1 or its upstanding fork-shapedextension 1a, and through the locking roller 16 rotatably supported onthe sole-down-holding means 17 grips the locking surface 18a in theoperating position of the sole-down-holding means 17.

By connecting the binding plate 1 to the sole-down-holding means 17through the plates 11, a deposit of snow on the sole of the boot orchanges in the length of same based on its hygroscopical characteristicshas hardly any effect on the release characteristic of the binding,since these changes can be largely compensated for by a resulting changeof the position of the plates and an influencing of the releasecharacteristic therefore does practically not take place, as this isdiscussed in AT-PS 387 909.

FIG. 3 shows the heel jaw 17' during the moment of the release of thecontrol block 44 of the invention. The locking arm 22 has therebyalready left its position supporting the support lever 21, because of alack of a moment holding same in its supporting position, produced bythe release mechanism inside of the housing 6 of the control block 44 inits locking position and by the moment applied on the locking arm 22 bythe support lever 21 and acting in direction of the release position,and has reached its release position. The tensioning spring 19 has withthis, however, lost its abutment consisting of the parts 21, 22. Thetensioning spring 19 together with the arm 18 and the support lever 22now forms a closed system which no longer applies any forces in outwarddirection. With this it is possible, also in the case of small forcesapplied by the boot onto the sole-down-holding means 17, to move thesole-down-holding means rearwardly, as this is shown in FIGS. 4a and 4b,thus causing a yielding of the plates 11. Furthermore, thesole-down-holding means 17 can also be pivoted upwardly without anysignificant force, with the latter being additionally supported by theopening spring 31.

FIG. 5 shows the heel jaw with the sole-down-holding means 17 beingswung upwardly after a release, with the locking arm 22 and thus therelease mechanism, as this has already mentioned, being returned in thecontrol block 44 by the upward swing of the sole-down-holding means 17.This is done with the help of the shoulder 27 arranged on thesole-down-holding means 17, which shoulder 27 rests on the shoulder 22'of the locking arm 22 and takes same along.

The control block 44 has, as can be seen in FIGS. 6a and 6b, two housinghalves 6' and 6" which are closely connected with one another and formthe housing 6 and which encloses the release member and the lockingsystem according to the invention.

The release member of the control block 44 of the invention is anelectric motor which is combined with a step-down gear to a geared motor105, with a pinion 106b being rotationally supported fixedly on itsdriven shaft 105a, which pinion is part of the locking system.

The pinion 106b mates with a gear 106a which is connected fixed againstrotation to a crank 109 through a shaft 107, which is held in blindholes of the two housing halves 6', 6". A torsion spring 108 isfurthermore moved onto this shaft 107, one end of which torsion springengages the gear 106a and a second, tangentially projecting end of whichtorsion spring rests on a shoulder 105b of the housing of the gearedmotor 105, which shoulder 105b guides the driven shaft 105a of thegeared motor 105. The torsion spring 108 initially tensions thereby thegear 106a toward a locked position of the locking system, part of whichalso includes the gear 106a and the crank 109, and also a pull rod 111,a lever 115 connected to the pull rod, and a cam member 103 cooperatingwith the lever and held fixed against rotation on the shaft 7, ispossible.

The crank 109 is hingedly connected to the pull rod 111. The pull rod111 has at its two ends laterally projecting axle journals 110b thereatreceived at one end in a bore on the crank 109 and at the other end in abore on the lever 115. Sleeves 112 are moved onto the free ends of theaxle journals 110b to secure the pull rod 111, which sleeves 112 aresecured by pins 130 in their axial position. Washers 113 are furthermoreplaced between the pull rod 111 and the crank 109, and the lever 115.

The lever 115 is pivotally supported on a housing-fixed axle 116 and hasat its free end a sloped surface which serves as an end stop which canrest on the inner wall of the housing 6.

The free end surface of the lever 115 serves as a stop for the cammember 103 held fixed against rotation on the shaft 7, which cam member103 grips forklike around the shaft 7 with symmetrical flat areas and issecured thereto by a screw 104.

The lever 115 cooperates furthermore with a control arm 117a of a switch117 which is designed as a changer end, as is shown in FIG. 9,selectively connects the electric motor 105' to a current source U or ashort-circuit. The latter is the case when the lever 115 is swungupwardly and releases the shaft 7 loaded in a clockwise direction by thesupport lever 21 or the cam member 103 connected fixed against rotationto the shaft, thus causing the jaw to be released and the boot to be setfree.

Furthermore a rope 120 is secured at one end to the gear 106a, whichrope is guided over an axle 121 serving as a guide means and the releasepin 14 and is fastened at its second end in the housing 6. The rope liesthereby in a slot 118 in the release pin 14.

If the release pin 14 is now pressed inwardly against the force of thespring 119, then the gear 106a is rotated counterclockwise. The electricmotor 105' is thereby connected to the evaluating circuit A and acurrent source U by the switch 117 so that the geared motor 105 can beeasily rotated since the electric motor 105' is not short-circuited. Ashort-circuiting of the electric motor 105' can only take place when thelever 115 is raised. The gear 106a, which is locked against movement tothe lever 115 through the pull rod 111 and the crank 109, is in thiscase, however, also in a position in which it can no longer beinfluenced by the release pin 14.

By rotating the gear 106a, the toggle-lever system formed by the crank109 and the pull rod 111 and supported in the area of the connection ofthese two parts on a stop 123 is moved out of its over-dead-centerposition and the pull rod 111 is thereby lifted so that the lever 115 isalso pivoted upwardly and the cam member 103, which is loaded throughthe shaft 7 with a torque acting in clockwise direction by the supportlever 21, is thereby released thus causing the jaw to be released andthe sole-down-holding means 17 to be pivoted upwardly.

As soon as the lever 115 is swung upwardly so far that the cam member103 is released, the switch 117 switches over causing the electric motor105' as shown in FIG. 9, to be separated from the current source U andat the same time short-circuited and thus stopped. The path of therelease pin 14 is thereby dimensioned such that the lever 115 cannot hitthe inner wall of the housing 6.

After the release pin 14 has been released, the spring 108 turns backthe gear 106a and thus also the electric motor 105'. The torque producedby the torsion spring 108 is thereby greater than the braking moment ofthe electric motor 105' together with its gearing.

The lever 115 rests thereby, as can be seen in FIG. 6b, on the camsurface 103b of the cam member 103. As soon as the now upward pivotingof the sole-down-holding means 17 has ended, this, as shown in FIG. 5,also includes the return of the locking arm 22 and thus also of the cammember 103 which is connected fixed against rotation through the shaft 7to the locking arm 22, the lever 115 returns into its rest positionillustrated in FIG. 6a, with this movement having been forced by thespring 108, which also drives the toggle-lever system consisting of thecrank 109 and the pull rod 111 into its over-dead-center position. Thisassures a high degree of insensitivity with respect to the acceleratingforces acting onto the individual parts.

When the binding is released due to forces which are too high and thusact also onto the foot of the skier, the electric motor 105' iscontrolled by the evaluating circuit A and rotates the pinion 106bcounterclockwise causing the gear 106a to be rotated clockwise and therelease of the binding in the earlier described manner like during amanual release through the release pin 14. The braking of the electricmotor 105' causes, due to its short-circuiting through the switch 117after the release of the cam member 103, the further movement of theelectric motor 105' and thus of the entire locking system in a releasedirection to end quickly and the lever 115 does not strike the innerside of the housing 6.

The geared motor 105 is also in this case turned back through the spring108, with the switch 117 being pressed down upon the return of the lever115 into its rest position (FIG. 6a) and the contact of the switch,which contact is designed as a changer, cancelling the short-circuit ofthe electric motor 105' and connecting same to the current source U.

The two housing halves 6', 6" are tightly glued together along theirinterfacing surfaces with the correct position of the two halves 6', 6"being assured by the fitting pins 122.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:
 1. A safety ski binding,comprising a movably supported sole-down-holding means, an electronicevaluating circuit and an electric motor connected in circuit therewith,a force-receiving means giving off electrical signals in response torelative movement between said safety ski binding and a ski on whichsaid safety ski binding is mounted, an electrical current supplyconnected in electrical circuit with said electric motor, a controlelement movable between a first position locking said sole-down-holdingmeans in a skiing position and a second position releasing saidsole-down-holding means, a locking system for controlling the movementof said control element, and a locking mechanism coupled to said movablysupported sole-down-holding means, said electric motor being arranged ina tightly closed housing of a control block, said electric motor havinga driven output shaft sealingly guided through a wall of the housing andconnected to said locking system, said locking system including a gearmatingly coupled with a pinion coupled to said output shaft of saidelectric motor, said gear including a crank arranged eccentrically ofsaid gear, a pull rod pivotally coupled to said crank at one end thereofand which is hingedly connected to a pivotally supported lever atanother end thereof, said lever blocking in said first position of saidcontrol element movement of said control element in a direction towardssaid second position of said control element to thereby support theforces applied by said locking mechanism of said sole-down-holdingmeans.
 2. The safety ski binding according to claim 1, wherein said gearis urged to an initial position by means of a spring, said initialposition corresponding with said first position of said control element.3. The safety ski binding according to claim 1, wherein said levercontrols a switch, said switch selectively connecting said electricmotor to said electrical current supply and said evaluating circuit orseparates same therefrom and short-circuits same, the latter occurringas soon as said lever is in a position releasing said control elementfor movement toward said second position.
 4. The safety ski bindingaccording to claim 1, including a manually operable release rodextending through the wall of said housing of said control blockdirectly through a rope secured on said gear and on said housing and foreffecting a release of said locking system.
 5. The safety ski bindingaccording to claim 1, wherein, in the locked position of said lockingsystem, said crank and said pull rod, which together form a toggle-leversystem, are in an over-dead-center position and are supported at theirmutually connected end on a stop.